Junkyard Wars: The Next Generation

A reader writes: "The makers of Junkyard Wars are starting up a new series called Ultimate Machine Combat. 30 teams and 30 days each to build "ultimate fighting vehicle" to battle in a "secret arena". This is attracting gear heads of all genres, including my local Jeep Club."

Pro-Wrasslin' for Geeks

[Bonker]

Although I don't watch them very often... once or twice a month... I really like shows like Battlebots, Robotica, and Junkyard wars because they trigger the same emotional response in children as pro-sports, and even faux-sports like Professional Wrestling.

Rather than be encouraged to spend all their time getting their bodies in peak/steroid-enhanced condition for the sport of their choice and then being completely burned out and unable to pursue any other line of work by the time they're an adult, kids are encouraged to learn mechanics, engineering, coding, and other tech skills that will benifit them later in life in professional or technical careers.

Junk

[Skyshadow]

Bah, it'd be a lot more cool if they have ten hours to build the machine in the junkyard.

High Power Weaponry

[don_carnage]

Why is it when anyone mentions robots fighting, they always think of sawblades and pneumatic spikes? I want to see .50 caliber machine guns, napalm and mines. I mean come on a metal ball on a spike spinning at 3000rpm? How about a 1/2" slug of steel traveling at 1500fps?

Yar!

Re:cool..but

[Cutriss]

Just as long as they don't get that asshole from "Robotica" to do it.

Robotica is *okay* on its own merits, but if he hosted Battlebots or Junkyard Wars, that'd totally ruin the show by itself.

Why does it always have to be robot combat?

[damiangerous]

Let's face it, the worst thing about those robot shows is the combat. It's never particularly destructive, and it's not very exciting to watch. The announcers scream like it's a gladatorial fight to the death, but in reality there's a little chipped paint and maybe some smoke from a burned out motor. Oh, and sometimes things fall off. The safety rules prevent anything really cool from happening. This is why the best of the robot shows is Robotica, they seem to understand that obstacles and problem solving are the true tests of engineering prowess, though that duel at the end is the worst part of the show. With this new show the combat will probably be even worse. It seems to involve human piloting, so the safety regs will be pretty strict. No more fun there. Seems like it'll be little more than demolition derby with custom cars. And what's with the unlimited budget? Everyone should be limited to the cash they give you and no more. Building it at home is pretty boring too. The design and build process, especially under a tight deadline with ad hoc equipment, is the most interesting part. Of course, since you're allowed effectively unlimited time and money, you can just buy a victory once the ideal design has been established. It's not like there's a dearth or research on fighting vehicles.

The problem solving with limited time and equipment of Junkyard Wars is what makes it one of the best shows out there. Sure, I suppose you could say Battlebots is "problem solving," but it's hardly a new and unique problem with new approaches. And you can build your bot at home with just about anything you want. At this point the effectiveness of the various robot designs have pretty much been settled and it's down to the small differences. Did you know there's even at least one book on breaking into the robot competition business? Yeah, business. It's becoming about as exciting as NASCAR. What it comes down to is Battlebots is about form, Junkyard Wars is about function. To put it in Slashdot terms, Battlebots is for MCSEs and Junkyard Wars is for Linux geeks.

ARRGGH!! NOOOO!!! Not ANOTHER one!

[bani]

The LAST thing we need on TV is another faux-WWF show. Gah!!!

Come on, we already have Battlebots, Robotica, etc...

Do we REALLY need ANOTHER?

We need more CONSTRUCTIVE shows like Junkyard Wars / Scrapheap Challenge.

We don't need another idiot 'bang contestants machines against each other till the audience falls asleep from utter boredom'.

I can see it now. A scantily clad cathy rogers draping herself over the contestants machines while robert llewelyn growls and grunts like an idiot white trash WWF announcer.

Re:Dangerous?

[Rogerborg]

• I am assuming, since this is coming from the Junkyard Wars standpoint and not necessarily Battlebots, are these vehicles manned? [...] Unmanned cars, so a huge-scale battlebots thing.... pretty cool, and very expensive... cool to watch I'm sure. But I doubt this is the format.

Doubt ye not. There was a Scrapheap Challenge (the original UK title) battle of the champions event in the UK using exactly this format. Two salvage cars, radio controlled with salvaged motors turning the wheels and pushing the pedals, and just ramming the bejeesus out of each other in an old quarry.

It was splendidly entertaining, with a few flaws that could easily be ironed out (i.e. don't put a high scoring scoring target area on the top of the car then count any old trailing bit of chain that hits it). Both teams tried to put clever weapons on their vehicles, but ended up just smashing lumps out of each other, which is what we really want to see, right?

You're right about the safety aspect though. One of the cars jammed on full throttle, and they had to drive it in circles, then up the quarry wall until it tipped over. A bit scary for the production crew, but top fun for the viewers.

Too bad most APCs are just a little bit too big...

[Kjella]

Most are around 2,5 x 6,5m, just over the 2,4 x 6m requirement... I'm sure someone will find a slightly smaller one.. add a batting ram, some additional wheel armoring to prevent wheels from getting jammed/punctured in the collisions.. Who needs a engineer, I think that team should have a medic instead - for the opponenets :)

Kjella

Re:Robots fighting Robots - no more crap

[elemental23]

At the risk of being modded down as redundant (and undoing the positive moderation I gave another post in this thread), you really want to check out Survival Research Laboratories [srl.org]. "Producing the Most Dangerous Shows on Earth", as they say.

You can occasionally catch their performances in the San Francisco area, or just look for pictures and video on their web site.